Fitness profile: Jen Heffentrager

Jen Heffentrager works out in the ring at Althouse Karate and Kickboxing in Fleetwood.

Age: 42.

Address: New Hanover Township, Montgomery County.

Occupation: Independent personal trainer.

When and why you began to exercise: Until recently, I never really worked out. I raised kids and, not that exercise wasn't important, but it wasn't something I could make a priority in my life.

But then a few years ago I started going to a nearby gym with some of my friends from the neighborhood. The accountability was good, but I found the exercise kind of boring. When one of the trainers at the gym noticed that my motivation was down, he offered me a free session of boxing.

I did this one-hour session with him, and I loved it. That was a pivotal point for me, finding something that wasn't typical exercise. He had me doing things I never pictured myself doing, like running in the rain, and he pushed me past the limits I had previously set for myself.

He told me that I had such a natural talent and passion for it that I should consider becoming a personal trainer myself. I did, and eventually I ended up taking over his boxing classes and clients when he moved on. It's absolutely changed my life, and it's a passion I never saw myself developing.

Type of exercise you do: I do boxing and kickboxing, the two things that I love the most. I also do a type of high-intensity interval training called Tabata. Anything high-intensity is what drives me. Anything that makes me ask myself, "Can I really do this?" It's a good feeling to succeed at something like that.

Hardest hurdle to overcome: Tearing a ligament in my foot and having surgery. I'd been doing this for five years, had established myself and brought my fitness to such a high level.

And then I couldn't do anything weight-bearing for several months. That was the biggest hurdle, to have to step out for that length of time, and hearing the doctor say to me that my foot would never be the same. He told me he couldn't promise that I would be able to return to boxing and kickboxing. But I really just had a mentality where I wanted to prove that I could do it.

I'd always told people that fitness starts with the first step, but after surgery that became even more true for me. It gave me another perspective on training people coming back from injuries.

Biggest health or fitness achievement: Coming back to a point of even greater fitness after surgery, and getting back into the ring and fighting. This past April I took part in an amateur kickboxing competition. The training for that was beyond anything I had ever done before.

How exercise helps you: I think the biggest way that it helps me is mentally. Because I wasn't someone who exercised most of my life or who pushed myself, exercise has given me an outlet to push, to achieve and to know what I'm capable of.

I think it's so important to have something to call your own. Having been a stay-at-home mom, to then go to something like this, something that's mine and that I love and that turned into a career, has raised my self-esteem. Physically I'm in the best shape I've ever been in.

Tips for others: It's not an easy thing. Every single day that you get up, there's that battle between the part of your brain that rationalizes why you don't have to do it that day, and the other half that pushes you to do those exercises you enjoy. But it's worth it for what exercise does for you mentally and physically. And it's not just limited to how you feel at the gym, it carries into other areas of your life.

- Compiled by Elizabeth Giorgi

Once a week Lifestyle will profile a person who has made exercise a part of his or her life. If you know someone who enjoys being physically active, write to Fitness profile, Reading Eagle Company, P.O. Box 582, Reading, PA 19603, or email life@readingeagle.com. Include the person's name, address, email address and telephone number and why you think he or she should be profiled.